


Old Soldiers Don't Die

by Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Afterlife, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Meet-Cute, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 02:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14843781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw/pseuds/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw
Summary: ...they just go to the Nethersphere to regroup.





	Old Soldiers Don't Die

**Author's Note:**

> Beta courtesy of the terrific imaginary_golux and infinite_regress!

Danny doesn’t regret blowing himself up to save the world. He doesn’t regret losing Clara again. He doesn’t have much of a personal opinion on anything, really; the emotional inhibitor is very effective. It’s a rational decision, and that’s good enough for his cyber-brain.

But he is surprised to find himself back in the Nethersphere. Then he’s surprised to find out that he’s surprised. Emotions. Emotions are...not new, but a nice return to form. Strangely he still doesn’t find himself missing his old life, as though that brief joyless, fearless space were a permanent barrier between the present and whatever he has felt before.

Then a woman winks into being beside him. “Where am I?” she asks.

***

Journey doesn’t regret dying. That’s life in a war against the Daleks. Even with Rusty’s help, they’re badly outgunned, but they’d known that going in.

And really, she’s been on borrowed time since the Doctor saved her a few months ago. She’s seen so many of her comrades in arms fall to Dalek attacks. Daleks don’t leave survivors, but at least they don’t go in for torture. So at least she knows it’ll be quick, she thinks as the Dalek saucers come in for another pass on her crippled fighter, and closes her eyes waiting for the explosion.

There is a burst of heat, white-hot even through her eyelids, and then...a cool breeze? “Where am I?” she wonders, perhaps foolishly. Died and gone to heaven, some part of her brain fills in unhelpfully as she wakes up in a park currently populated by only herself and an extremely fit young man with soulful eyes. “This isn’t some Dalek trick, is it? Because I’m not going to give you any information.”

“Um, okay.” Handsome shrugs. “I’m sure that meant something to you. I’m Danny Pink, by the way.” Danny explains about the Nethersphere and their mutual acquaintances. Journey introduces herself; he seems far too polite for a Dalek spy.

“So, what now?” she asks.

There is a long silence which Danny finally breaks. “I have some business to take care of.” He explains about Ahmed and the bracelet, and that’s when Journey knows he can’t be a Dalek; no Dalek would even be able to imagine such a scenario.

“I’ll help you find him,” she volunteers before she realizes what she’s saying. But she doesn’t regret her promise. She’s trained for war her entire adult life; this will make a nice change.

“Um, okay.” Danny blinks, surprised. “Thanks.”

Suddenly Journey’s stomach rumbles. She may be dead, but apparently her basic biological urges--and here she pauses to admire Danny--are still functioning, unlike the Aristotle’s food manufactory. “Do you mind if we get something to eat first?” Rations have been tight for the last week, and she’s starving.

Danny smiles. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Because if Russell T. Davies can pair off Mickey Smith and Martha Jones, I can write this.


End file.
